Cinematheque opens eyeing independent film festivals

Cinematheque opens eyeing independent film festivals

Adjacent to Macau’s world heritage icon, the Ruins of St. Paul’s, the “Cinematheque-Passion,” located at Travessa da Paixão started its trial run yesterday with an informal ceremony which culminated with a special screening of “Guia in Love”, a romantic comedy directed by Leong Tak Sam and co-starring actors from both Hong Kong and Macau.
The ceremony was attended by the President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) president Ung Vai Meng and Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macau Government Tourist Office.
The film was projected in the brand new 60-seat screening room, in an event organized by the Macau Films & Television Productions and Culture Association. According to IC information, the screening room’s budget was around MOP1 million.
For now, and until the end of the year, this will be the only space available for film related associations to use in order to promote their activities. In the second stage of the project the venue will develop a film information room on the first floor that will feature local film materials, periodicals and magazines as well as a multiple functions, video storage, a film journal, book loan service, a souvenir shop and, a café.
“We are happy to see the vigorous development of the Macau film industry, and the growing number of film productions and exchange activities these past few years,” Ung Vai Meng stated in his opening speech, adding that this new venue is one of the measures taken by the Cultural Affairs Bureau to promote the cultural and creative industries.
Regarding the activities program there is yet to be a clear definition since, in the words of the IC’s vice-president Chan Peng Fai, “it will depend on each association”. It was advanced however so that for the coming month there is already a small program that will include workshops and sharing sessions.
Ung Vai Meng also noted that “this will be the ideal venue for ‘less commercial’ movie festivals from all over the world and not just from Macau or China”.
On the sidelines of this event, the IC president also referred to the effort that is currently being invested into revitalizing other arts venues, like the Cheng Peng Theatre, which
has been closed since 1992 and was once a privileged stage for the local Cantonese Opera.
The Times spoke to local filmmaker and producer Fernando Eloy to learn his opinion about the new venue. Mr Eloy confessed to not knowing much about the space or its concept, but expressed his support for the initiative saying: “It is a positive thing! We cannot make an industry grow if we do not know where it came from and if we cannot imagine where it wants to go. So a ‘museum kind’ of space seems to be good and it opens opportunities that most of the time are not available on the big screens that we currently have in Macau for other kinds of cinema”.
In his opinion, this space can contribute to an evolution of the art and all that is related to it. “All that comes this way to educate people about this topic is always good, now let’s see if the future can show us all that potential because we know that all will depend on the skills of the people in making it a ‘lively’ and ‘constructive’ space,” he said.
Bearing in mind “that there are much more moviegoers than moviemakers,” the locally based filmmaker said the venue should try to attract not just those that are involved in film production, but mostly all those who love movies. RM